Kathleen and Brad: Osaka

Like I said before, Brad and I are trying to make the most out of our JR passes as well as see as much of Japan as possible so we planned a trip to Osaka for a couple of days. This was the weekend for indulging a little bit. We love experiencing the way Japanese people sleep on futons and sit on the floor, but you never realize how good sitting in a chair is until you’re on the floor all the time. So we were really excited about sleeping in a Western style hotel in Osaka.

Japan has a lot of natural hotsprings which we have been really excited to try out. Here in Osaka there is a 6 story onsen (hot springs) called Spa World with different themes from around the world and a water park. This is not your regular onsen. The best part is that it only cost us 900 yen (about $9) to enjoy it for a full day if we wanted to. You wouldn’t believe all the amenities that it included!

Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures (every onsen is enjoyed in the nude). But Brad and I had a good time trying to figure out the process of enjoying the onsen (there are different rules, rituals, and orders to bathing etc.). For instance, obviously shoes are not allowed, people are required to shower before going into any of the spa’s, you are supposed to bring a little hand towel with you but you’re not allowed to bring it in the spa and you’re not allowed to put your head under the water. There is even an order to how you’re supposed to bathe before going in the spa! Fortunately I think Brad and I figured it out ok and after enjoying the spa (Brad’s was European style and mine was Asian style) we were able to go up to the top floor to the water park and family spa area for a little while. It was definitely a fun experience! Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.spaworld.co.jp/english/service.html

This is the hotel that is attached to Spa World. Yes, that is a roller coaster!

The next day we traveled to Himeji which has one of the most famous castle’s in Japan. This castle was also featured in the James Bond film, You Only Live Twice.

I am still not familiar with Japanese history but apparently the dowry of a Princess in the 1600s was used to build the main part of the castle. There were also 3 different areas. Merchants lived on the outermost region of the castle village, the samurai, in the middle, and the lords/upperclass in the middle.

What the castle looks like now.

They have filled in some of the moat now but the main part of the castle is beautiful. A few years ago they renovated what used to be part of the Samurai village to a garden called Kokoen. The garden was beautiful even in February! Both Brad and I thought that Himeji is definitely a place we would like to return to. If only we could go back in a couple of weeks when the cherry blossoms are out!

The cherry blossoms are starting to come out but I bet in another month the area is going to be beautiful!

We also got a chance to check out Dotonbori street which is famous for all the lights they have at night as well as the restaurants that are available. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to go at night but it was still really fun to see how different it is from any street I had seen before in the US.